Zahhāk ( ضحّاک )
Biography Early Life zahhāk was born as the son of a persian ruler named merdās &'' egyptian woman named nekhbet. he grew to be handsome ''& clever, but had no stability of character &'' was easily influenced by those around him. ahriman ('' zoroastrianism “evil spirit”, synonymous with the christian devil ''), therefore chose him to play with in his want for chaos. when zahhāk was a young man, ahriman first appeared to him as a glib, flattering companion ''& over time, convinced zahhāk that he ought to kill his own father &'' take over his empire. ahriman instructed zahhāk to dig a deep pit with spikes placed at the bottom covered over with leaves in a place where merdās often took his afternoon walks; the king fell in ''& was killed. the death deemed a horrid accident, zahhāk was crowned king. several weeks later zahhāk, having forgotten the demon's part in his rise to power, ahriman now took on another guise &'' appeared to zahhāk as a marvelous cook. after he had made zahhāk weeks’ worth of delectable feasts, zahhāk was willing to give the cook whatever he wanted. ahriman merely asked to kiss zahhāk on his hands. zahhāk permitted this, but as soon as the demon's lips touched his skin, the cook disappeared ''& black reptilian scales started to grow on the back of his hands. the scales could not be removed medically, as each time a scale was removed, another grew back in its place. ahriman appeared again to zahhāk as a skilled physician several weeks later, spinning tales on how to remove the infection from the king’s skin, as the scales had now spread up his arms &'' to his shoulders. ahriman counseled zahhāk that the only remedy was to wash the scales with human blood, or else the scales would continue to cover his body. zahhāk did just that; he had his soldiers take a man off the street everyday, slit open their throat ''& would then bathe his infected skin in the blood. he was beginning to be known in whispered tones as the ‘ dragon king ''’ ''& ‘ aži dahāka ’. The Dragon King it was around this time that jamshid, who was then ruler of a neighboring empire, lost his right to rule. zahhāk presented himself to jamshid’s people as a savior, as jamshid has not fathered any sons while king. collecting a great army, zahhāk marched against jamshid, who fled upon hearing of the dragon king’s coming. zahhāk, angry that jamshid had gotten away, hunted him for many years'' &'' at last caught him &'' subjected him to a miserable death — being sawn in half. zahhāk now became ruler of most of central asia. among his slaves were jamshid’s two daughters, arnavāz ''& shahrnavāz, who he soon married, favoring their beauty &'' grace. as years passed with them, ( & his abilities developed ), zahhāk kept them from aging as well, wanting no other women but them. the scales, now covering most of zahhāk’s upper body, had not been sated by human blood, yet, knowing no alternative, zahhāk continued to seize a man each day ''& execute them so that he could remedy the infection. two men, called armayel &'' garmayel, wanted to find a way to rescue people from being executed by the dragon king. they became soldiers in zahhāk’s guard, ''& rose through the ranks to where they were tasked with arresting the men that would remedy the scales. they, however, let each man go &'' instead replaced the human blood with that of a sheep’s without the king's knowledge. those who were saved were told to flee to the mountains ''& far away plains. the scales continued to spread over zahhāk’s body until there was no sign of flesh left. as the last bit of flesh was covered, his body morphed &'' contorted. for days the king did naught by scream as his body was torn apart ''& mended back together. on the thirteenth day, when the pain finally stopped, he found himself to no longer be a man, but a horrendous winged lizard-beast. furious at what the physician had turned him into, zahhāk sent his spies all over the world, searching for both the physician or a cure to fix his form. as word spread of zahhāk’s condition, several opposing nations saw this as a time to attack, but they were wrong. with zahhāk’s temper worse then usual, he would often meet the forces out on the battlefield himself. flying over them as a great black beast &'' bathing them in breaths of fire. as more ''& more nations attacked, more land was gained by zahhāk, expanding his persian empire. zahhāk’s tyranny over the world lasted for centuries, as he found that he no longer aged as a normal man did. after two centuries he had given up searching for the physician'' &'' had embraced his draconic form. able to appear as both a human man &'' a fire-breathing lizard, no one dared to challenge the dragon king for this crown. The Dragon King V. Alexander the Great perhaps the most threating thing to happen during his reign was the rise of alexander the great. the macedonian king burnt persepolis, the capital of persia, to the ground and destroyed emblems of their religion, zoroastrianism. as alexander slowly took over the coastal ports of persia, zahhāk had his war counselor, darius the third, raise a large army. darius even offered alexander portions of the persian empire to stop his invading armies, but both times did alexander refuse. alexander even managed to wrangle egypt from persian control & was crowned pharaoh. zahhāk, furious at alexander's advancement, had his troops stationed on the euphrates in babylon, ready to attack the macedonian army. having seen that his opponent's army was smaller compared to his own, was sure that victory was his. though zahhāk usually joined his troops in battle, he chose not to this time, staying home, & that lead to the downfall of his empire. though the persians had the numbers, the macedonians had the skills. darius, having taken over control of the soldiers from zahhāk, was forced to flee several times as the opposing army closed in on him. the persians lost the battle & their empire. the dragon king, in his fury, murdered darius & fled the capital, intending to re-raise an army to take back his kingdom. for eight years, the dragon king tracked alexander the great from afar, until he came back to babylon to make preparations for another campaign. seeing his opportunity, zahhāk stole into the parties alexander attended ''& poisoned him. though not his preferred method of killing, he thought it to be a dishonorable way to die. zahhāk took back his empire, but it was not the same as before. there were constant skirmishes between the persians &'' the greeks, ''& the dragon king constantly had to fight for control of his borders. hellenistic culture and greek customs dominated the region & though zahhāk tried to hinder the spread of it, he failed. The Revolution one night, zahhāk had a terrible dream — one in which there were three warriors attacking him, &'' that the youngest knocked him down with a mace, tied him up, ''& dragged him towards the tallest mountain on the horizon. no matter how much the man-dragon fought, he could not get loose of the bindings. zahhāk woke in a panic &'' summoned his wise-men ''& dream-readers to explain when it had meant. they were reluctant to deliver the bad news, as they knew of the dragon king’s temper, but finally one spoke up. he said that it was a vision of the end of zahhāk’s reign, that rebels would arise &'' dispose zahhāk of this throne. the dream-reader even named the man who would take his crown; fereydun. zahhāk now became obsessed with finding this “fereydun” ''& destroying him, though he did not know where he lived or who his family was. his spies went everywhere looking for fereydun, &'' finally found that he was but a boy, living in the countryside with his family. zahhāk’s spies had killed the family, but found that fereydun had already fled before they arrived. zahhāk tried to secure his rule by coercing an assembly of the leading men of the kingdom into signing a document testifying to zahhāk’s righteousness so that not one would have any excuse for a rebellion. frightened, each man signed the document, save for one. a blacksmith named kāveh spoke out against the charade. in front of the whole assembly, kāveh told the men of how zahhāk’s spies had murdered a majority of his ancestors so that zahhāk may attempt to remove the scale’s from his body using their blood. only one of eighteen sons had survived long enough to have children. his last remaining uncle was imprisoned within the castle, but still lived. in front of the assembly, zahhāk had to pretend to be merciful, ''& so released kāveh’s uncle. but when he tried to get kāveh to sign the document, kāveh tore up the document, left the court with his uncle, &'' raised his blacksmith’s apron as a standard of rebellion, ''& proclaimed himself in support of fereydun as a ruler. many people followed kāveh to the alborz mountains, where fereydun was now living. he was now a young man &'' agreed to lead the people against zahhāk. he had a mace made for him with the head like that of an ox, ''& with his brothers & ''followers, went forth to fight against zahhāk. zahhāk had fled his capital, fearing his dream would come true, so it fell to fereydun with little resistance. kondrow, zahhāk’s treasurer, pretended to submit to fereydun, but when he had a chance, he escaped back to zahhāk ''& told him what had happened. zahhāk had at first dismissed the matter, but when he heard that fereydun had seated jamshid’s daughters on thrones beside him like his queens, he was incensed &'' immediately hastened back to his city to attack fereydun. upon arriving, zahhāk found his capital held so strongly against him that he could not even get through as a dragon. instead, he snuck into the palace as a spy, & attempted to assassinate arnavāz ''& shahrnavāz. fereydun was nearby, however, &'' struck zahhāk down with his ox-headed mace. fereydun did not kill zahhāk, by the advice of an angel, but instead bound zahhāk & imprisoned him in a cavern beneath mount damāvand, binding him with a lion’s pelt tied to great nails fixed into walls of the cavern. no matter how much he struggled, as human or dragon, the fetters would not shake. it is said that zahhāk attempting to get free would often cause earthquakes, or hot lava to spew from mount damāvand. thus, after a thousand years’ tyranny, ended the reign of zahhāk. it is said that zahhāk will break free of his fetters near the end of the world ''& ''consume one-third of the world’s population. fereydun, reincarnated as kirsāsp, would rise to save the world from the vengeful dragon. Escape & Afterwards for over a thousand years, zahhāk fought against his chains. not even his magic, direct or otherwise would break the fetters. every several hundred years or so, someone would happen upon his cavern. they would see often see a man dressed in rags that was nothing but skin ''& bones. zahhāk would feign innocence, but many people knew the legends about the dragon hidden underneath the mountain &'' they left him to die. once, a young boy, javed, found the dragon’s lair by accident, ''& knowing nothing about the ancient king, thought that he had happened upon a genie. having his unlimited magic allowed zahhāk to grant “wishes” for javed, giving him riches &'' delectable food. in return, javed would tell zahhāk of the events outside; what became of fereydun ''& his kingdom, of any foreign advances &'' technology. oftentimes, javed would even bring books to keep zahhāk entertained. though the books, zahhāk learned several languages, cultures, history ''& fiction. over the course of the boy’s growth from child to young man, zahhāk had javed in his palm, keeping the boy entranced by granting him anything he asked for. one day, zahhāk had asked javed to release his chains promising him a palace if he did, &'' javed did without hesitation. once the bindings were gone, zahhāk showed javed his true form. releasing the human illusion, he became a beast with black scales ''& horrid snarls. zahhāk ate the boy'' &'' burst free of his cavern, taking to the skies for the first time in over a thousand years. XXXX upon his release, zahhāk found the year to be 1895. his kingdom was long gone, as were his wives & ''fereydun. enraged that zahhāk could not get his revenge, he went on a rampage, destroying several of the villages along mount damāvand’s slopes. he ate his fill ''& reinvigorated the legends of the sinful king who became a dragon''&'' was bound beneath the mountain. several days later, no longer wanting to be reminded of his despise, he flew away. for several years he posed as a wanderer, gaining information &'' knowledge about the new world. he found that the world had come far with televisions, airplanes, ''& new countries had formed as well. Capture by the time the second world war came around, zahhāk had established himself within british society. he went by the name william taylor &'' was a lieutenant colonel in the army. having run his own wars while king of persia, william excelled. formerly assigned to cario, egypt, he was pulled ''& reassigned to command his own regiment in libya. he lead many battles, winning most, but was decimated at the battle of gazala. all his men were killed, germany taking the win, but he was not so lucky as to die. as he saw the enemy taking over, william could no longer watch. he ran out himself, gun in hand &'' killed as many as he could. eventually, bullets ran out ''& he uses his fists &'' his magic. though strong in body ''& ability, there were too many. william became overrun &'' was taken prisoner. it wasn’t the nazis who captured him, however. perhaps their allegiance to the political party was a cover, but their native language was not german. william was unable to break his chains. reminded of his years under mount damāvand, william became infuriated. they obviously knew not to use normal chains, so he did not hold back. though as much as he fought, he could not break the metal. his captors communicated with him using a variety of languages with several accents, making william unable to identify their home countries. he never clearly saw their faces, for he was shrouded in darkness the whole time ''& they would gas the room, making him fall unconscious before cutting into him. when he woke, william would find a new wound elsewhere on his body. the daeva, as they called themselves, tested his mind as well, asking for a variety of impossible tasks; such as filling a bucket with no bottom. of course he used his magic. william was with the daeva for years,'' &'' it took nearly a decade for them to break him enough for him to release his human form. a dragon towered over them, mighty in appearance, but weak in strength. being constantly drugged, cut into, &'' starved had taken a toll on him. this was what the daeva had wanted. they hadn’t revealed their wants to william until now, until they saw the dragon. they were enthusiasts, extremists. they were told stories about the dragon king ''& explored mount damāvand to find his prison, but found only blood &'' broken chains. they knew he had escaped, so they searched. when they heard rumors of a soldier who had risen through the ranks quickly ''& excelled on the battlefield, they deemed it worth a look, &'' they found him. upon seeing his draconic form, they tested him even harder, now going for the knowledge portion. they wanted to know about his life prior to leaving his shackles. despite their torturous methods, william gave nothing up. those were his memories alone ''& he would not give them over to worthless human men. it was some years afterwards, that it was becoming too much. they didn’t let him sleep, they continued with the medical procedures, the constant questioning, &'' experimentation. william could no longer take it. they were pouring a corrosive substance on his skin, an effort to get him to talk when he unintentionally sent out a wave of magic. it came by an unconscious command, but the wave destroyed everything. the building he was held in was in ruins, all the daeva were dead, ''& even surrounding forests were destroyed. william took to the skies &'' flew away. landing a good distance away from the compound, he attempted to heal his wounds ''& scars with his magic, but found it harder to call. the scars &'' wounds healed, but not as quickly as normal. over time, he found his magic use to be substantially reduced from the ability he once had. he can still heal himself ''& appear human, but granting riches &''''' miracles was no longer an option. Modern Day once more, zahhāk immersed himself in the world. he went to college twice, first for a bachelors degree in business management in 1957 '& secondly a masters degree in computer science &'' engineering in 2010. currently, he is a free lance ''“'''''hacker”'' doing anything anyone needs so long as they have the right price. though this, though he’s been skilled in computer use since before going to college for it, he is also able to keep his own identity in check. being immortal has it’s challenges in the modern world. you need a digital history, bank accounts, credit cards, ect. he can also have people create him documents, such as birth certificates or social security cards whenever he wants to assume a new identity. ''' '''currently going by the name '''cyrus jarrah, he has mellowed out since his escape from the daeva. his temper is under control (' more or less ) &'' he’s built up his wealth exponentially. his freelance business, playing the stock market ''&''''' loaning out money with interest has returned a high profit. though cyrus stays in his human form for long periods of time, there are times where cyrus yearns to stretch his wings. no one would ever guess that the seeming twenty-five year old living in a studio apartment was once the king of a great nation, cursed to become a horrendous beast.